Safely into Superpole

Team Bimota Alstare riders Christian Iddon and Ayrton Badovini finished today with the 15th and 17th fastest times respectively and qualified safely into tomorrow’s Superpole shoot-out. This was Christian’s first time at the track but he managed to improve steadily throughout today’s three sessions and was happy to qualify comfortably for Superpole. Ayrton’s first session was a bit problematic, but he too went faster in the two afternoon sessions, to finish just behind his team in the standings.

Christian Iddon – 15th, 1:24.916

“This is my first time here and it’s smaller than on TV, but more extreme. The hills are really big and that’s nice. In a way it’s similar to some British tracks because there are lots of undulations. It looks quite technical, but in reality I don’t think it is because a lot of it is just one line. A lot of people make a fuss about the Corkscrew, but Turn 1 is far more technical and one that is hard to get exactly right.

We worked on a number of things today and kept making progress and that makes me happy. Getting the right gear ratios here is a bit difficult and it may be that a compromise will be called for. My rythmn was good today and I know which places I can improve on, so that gives me something to work on tomorrow. It’s not hard to put in a good lap here, but it’s very hard to shave off those last fractions of a second. But I’m happy because we are getting there. The bike is getting easier and easier to ride and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and making further improvements.”

Ayrton Badovini – 16th, 1:5.133

“I had some brake problems in this morning’s session and there wasn’t a lot of rear tyre grip. It was difficult to enter the corner properly and take the right line. We then improved in the next two sessions and got closer and closer to the best EVO bike. This is not the safest track on the calendar, so I need to build my confidence before I can push really hard. But we are getting better with each session and I am confident that we can improve quite a bit tomorrow.”